Easy DIY Christmas Card Display

Are you kids way over tired and a bit fractious at the end of the school year? A bit over excited about Christmas and summer holidays?

My two certainly were on Saturday afternoon.  OMG there was some stomping and yelling going on ...and perhaps I may have  partaken also:) I was tempted to give in and put a movie on for them but instead I gave them a fun task to do.

a DIY Christmas Card Display

I had found some louvre doors on a chipboard cabinet on the side of the road last week. I pulled them off (without a screw driver, just by twisting the hinges and breaking them a little) and bought the doors home with me.

I'm a firm believer that giving kids a fun task is a great way to put everyone in a good mood. Mummy included. So I mixed up some Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint (Tricycle). For this project I used about two tablespoons. I mixed it with water in an empty Jalna yogurt container, put the lid back on and shook until it was all the same consistency. I then let the kids loose. They know to not dip the paint brush too far into the paint and to not overwork their brush strokes. Because red is such a staining colour I got them to just paint in their undies so no photos of the kids for you!

Once the milk paint was dry, I gave it all a quick coat of spray can polyurethane just to stop it marking my walls. I then stapled some fabric on to the back and onto my wall trim to hang it all. Not the best method (and unfortunately not totally straight) but quick and effective and easy to pull down after Christmas. If I had time to think it out and plan I would have used that burlap upholstery trim with the red weave on it and measured so it was straight.

The cabinet door knobs work well as a place to hang a decoration.

Next time you see some old shutter doors on the side of the road, grab them!

How are you kids faring this close to the end of the school year? Although saying that, yesterday afternoon and evening my kids were divine and so sweet. Thank goodness. I think they know when they are pushing the limits!

cheers
Fiona 

Painted Shop Cabinets

I thought you might like to see some shop cabinets I painted recently for a couple of local shops. The first two were for Belinda who owns Bella Emporio Rozelle. She has some wonderful things in her shop (clothes and gifts) and wanted few of her timber framed glass

cabinets to blend in more with the other fittings so people would look inside the cabinets and see the stock rather than the cabinetry standing out.

This little cabinet started out an orange pine so one night while Phil lay on the couch watching tv (can you see him?) I painted it in ASCP Paris grey.

Once it was all painted, distressed, waxed and the glass cleaned again I took it back to Belinda's beautiful shop. Here is is all loaded up with beautiful things.

I also painted a beautiful long legged cabinet in a custom mix of ASCP Pure White and Old White. This was awkward to move far so I decided to paint it in my bedroom as it meant it was out of way of my kids. I would hate to break a client's furniture.

You can see below that I don't tape off the glass. Chalk paint is very forgiving and easy to get off.

A hard piece to photograph but here it is finished.

And look here's the drawers Belinda bought from me.

and an Instagram filter makes it so dramatic

And the other little cabinet comes with a funny story. One day I was out walking the Bay Run with Charlie, my dog. I came across a very old vintage bathroom vanity cabinet in a rubbish heap. What's a girl to do. I've got Charlie on the lead on one hand and about 4 km walk from home still. But it's fantastic and I'm sure I can think of something to do with it. So I decide to carry it. It's a bit grungy but I can cope. I walk past my kids' school and it's recess and they are playing on the grass and see me walking by and come over. Mummy why are you carrying a cupboard?  You think they'd ask...but they are children of a furniture thrifter so they just say hi Mummy what are you going to make with that?

I cleaned it and painted it white inside, leaving the original chipped paint on the outside. It had no back or no glass and I wasn't sure what to do with it, yet so many options but then the other day I was talking to my friend Maritsa who owns Precious in Rozelle and she asked me to keep an eye out for a display cabinet. I told her I had a quirky vintage one she could have as a gift.

so the moral is don't be afraid to pick up junk from the side of the road. Don't you love how Maritsa is using the nails that once held the glass in.

How beautiful is all this

If you have any last minute shopping to do then why not visit these beautiful shops

Bella Emporio is at 

636 Darling St, Rozelle

and 

Precious Trinkets and Treasures is at

Shop 1/746 Darling st Rozelle

I have so much still to do but am making myself not panic - paint not panic!

Fiona xx

Lilyfield Life's Christmas Style

I thought you might like to see our simple Christmas decorating. We have much loved pieces that we use each and every year and it's a joy to see them get unwrapped again. 

Living in the inner west of Sydney, we don't have a huge house, so putting up the Christmas tree means rearranging the house. I like it in this spot in the corner of the lounge room but I had to move two bits of furniture into the shed and move the sofa under the windows. Moving the furniture into the shed mean that I had to actually clean out the shed to make some room but that was long overdue and I paid my 18 year old nephew to come help me. I am loving how neat the shed is and how I can now lay my hands on my tools rather than frustrated search for half an hour before I do any job!

There was a stop work meeting the other morning for school so the kids and I spent the morning decorating the tree. It is so good to unwrap all the beautiful decorations we have collected and been given over the years. The kids kept saying ""I love this one" at each unwrapping. Our very good friend, Terrie Anne, used to live in France and she would send us each an ornament every year from the French Christmas markets and we just cherish them.

  
A lovely blog reader, Dee, sent us all a blue bauble with our names in glitter on them. So generous and thoughtful.

Pine cones collected from Callan park got some silver paint. The little picture was a gift from fellow furniture painter Michele of Knot Too Shabby in California. It's just gorgeous.

How beautiful is the tree with the lights twinkling.

We also have a beautiful nativity set that we added to over the years when the children were babies. Each year in the post Christmas sales we would go into Myer in the city and buy a piece. I just love it and think it is so special.

In our front hallway I have a little pine tree that I bought at Orange Grove Markets. I just wrapped the pot in a burlap bag I had lying around.

This year I only bought one new decoration - (besides the little tree)- a red berry garland for $19 from the $2 shop (go figure). I wanted something for the blue wall at our house entrance.  I hung the garland in a circle and then drew in white pastel around it. I did it last weekend for our street party and someone smudged it before I snapped a photo but hey that's ok. Easily fixed.

Here is the design I did last year on the wall (which is blue, not black. I think I'd used an Instagram filter on the photo). The one below was using chalk pen.

I also got the white birdcage out of the garden and luckily Sasha noticed spiders all through it before we started decorating it. We cleaned out 7 spiders and then placed some pine fronds from the pencil pines in our front garden and some white pillar candles. I lit it the other night in our bedroom and then watched it like a hawk so the whole thing didn't catch fire and burn down the house. That's the last thing I need after we are still replacing everything from the lightning strike a few weeks ago.

You know it's actually quite hard to take a photo of a candle lit in a dark room. Here it is with the lights on. Anyway I'm enjoying it unlit also. I need to work on my camera settings for that situation.

My dream for a front door wreath is to have a preserved boxwood wreath but I haven't found one and didn't get a chance to make one myself. We have a lot of buxus in the garden and next year I'll get organised. In the meantime I used our fake pine wreath and added some berry fronds I had and a red ticking bow.

Even Charlie didn't escape getting decorated for Christmas! He doesnt look too happy does he.

Phil, the kids and I wish you lots of joy and love at Christmas. Thank you for your support of Lilyfield Life. You all really bring a lot to my life and I am so appreciative. 

an old photo but wishing that you are all this happy also!

Now to just start my Christmas shopping - most of the presents I give I either make or shop local as I can't really cope with shopping malls and big conglomerates. 

How are you tracking?
Fiona xx

Tips on using Metallic Paint and a Silver Painted Dressing Table Set

I recently was asked to work with some talented interior designers, Chris and Jamie of Defining Spaces, with painting some bedroom furniture for their client's teenage daughter. Chris and Jamie had sourced a very beautiful vintage dressing table and asked me to paint it silver.  It was quite a big job and I was glad to see this piece shipped off yesterday. I still have to upholster the little stool when Chris decides on a fabric so I'll show you that later.

In the meantime here is the silver dressing table (and the clients's own side table that I also painted) in all its silvery glory!

I wasn't keen on the sound of silver initially but I absolutely love how it turned out.

I also loved painting with the silver paint - it's like molten metal and it's so luxurious. I think I'm a convert to some bling!

I have had so many questions and messages about this piece already and how I achieved the finish.

I used a  specialist silver metallic paint. Brands in Australia you can use are: Porters Paints, Dulux Design Metallic, White Knight Metal Guard. America it seems has a huge range of metallic paints. As always the US has a much bigger range of everything!

My tips for using metallic paint are:

Don't freak out at the cost. It's expensive but compared to silver leafing, much more affordable.

A small container of silver metallic paint goes a long way.

Use a tinted grey primer as undercoat

Watch your brush strokes.

Do not water down your paint

Paint in the recommended environment and temperature range.

Most metallic paint is designed for an effects wall and is recommended to be used in a cross hatch pattern. My client didn't want this so I did a sample board of careful long brush strokes and they were happy with that. It meant very carefully watching my brush strokes but the effort was worth it as the finish on the dressing table is beautiful.

It would also work well sprayed

Top coat as required with whichever top coat you wish.

For a more subtle silver look or if you can't get your hands on metallic paint, use gray instead of silver paint and finish with metallic glaze.

Don't over-brush as this causes the solver paint to loose it's metallic lustre and you can get patches of grey paint rather than silver.

I spray painted the original handles using Dulux Chrome Spray Paint. They turned out beautifully.

Silver or any other high gloss / high sheen paint will show up every single ding or imperfection in the timber. My client hadn't realised that and on the little side table that was an old family treasure there were a lot of dings on the front lip. It wasn't until Chris came to see the finished product that he asked me to fill in those dings. I should have asked initially but for me I love those little imperfections showing a life time of use. Anyway I filled the dints and repainted the table for him.  I didn't take a photo of the finished side table but you can see below the dings and how the light captures the divots.

The legs of this dressing table are so gorgeous. I was just about to type that they are my favourite part but I also love that serpentine front.

What do you think? 

Can you imagine living with a silver dressing table?

Is silver the new black?

I will definitely be using silver paint again...and soon!

Fiona xx

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